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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23321896">Friendship</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/skyfaring/pseuds/skyfaring'>skyfaring</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 16:01:56</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,717</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23321896</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/skyfaring/pseuds/skyfaring</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Pre-battle negotiations reveal Catra knows a little more than meets the eye; this soon turns into something unexpected.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Adora &amp; Bow &amp; Glimmer (She-Ra), Adora &amp; Bow (She-Ra), Adora &amp; Catra (She-Ra), Adora &amp; Glimmer (She-Ra), Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Adora/Glimmer (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra), Entrapta/Hordak (She-Ra)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>38</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Friendship</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="align-center">
  <strong>Adora</strong>
</p><p>While Adora had heard the sounds of battle before, she’d never heard it unless it was in an <em>oh shit they’re right there</em> situation. The rumbling of tanks and ground-shaking stomps of the soldiers, however, was a new experience, to say the least. She stood in the front, each of her steps matched by the troops behind her. The growls of engines were intermixed with the sound of heavy metal-on-metal impacts, voices chattering, the occasional <em>bang</em> and cursing drifting in the air. It took a little while to get used to. She had to explain to herself over and over again that they were not under attack; they were the attackers this time- they were the hunters with nothing to fear. At least that’s what she thought as she lead the Brightmoon rebellion through the Whispering Woods, trying to dispel any thoughts of failure. They had a plan, the plan that she’d spent countless hours on, pouring over Fright Zone diagrams and studying Brightmoon militia training.</p><p>Truth be told, she based her plan off of what could go wrong, not what could be done. She couldn’t live with herself to lose anyone because she’d rolled the dice of chance for them. Glimmer had sometimes sat with her during these planning sessions. Repeatedly she’d told Adora that risk was necessary in order for the plan to work, that the only question to ask was <em>is the squeeze worth the juice?</em> Unfortunately, no amount of juice was worth a single life to Adora. As a result, she’d made a drastic change to the plan the night before after spending hours in bed with churning guilt in her gut.</p><p>“I’ll see if I can negotiate something with the Horde, I can stop the fighting if I have to,” she’d announced as she marched into Glimmer and Bow’s room. The two had woken up abruptly, rubbing their eyes and squinting through the glaring lights of the room at her.</p><p>“If you want to,” they said before requesting she turn off the lights on her way out.</p><p>Adora checked her trackerpad, the blip on the screen slowly drawing closer to the big red “X” on the center. Putting the pad away, she turned around to take a peek at Brightmoon's- her- army. She had to admit, it was impressive. Arrays of troops and soldiers flanked by tanks and skiffs, the sea of white boldly standing out brilliantly against the greenery.</p><p>Maybe “bold” wasn’t the right word to use when asking for these uniforms, but it was too late now.</p><p>“How’s it going?” Glimmer asked, appearing by her side. Behind her Bow strolled along, fiddling with his arrows. “Everything’s set, we’re all ready. I can’t wait to beat some Horde ass!” Glimmer gushed, throwing a right hook with her arm for emphasis.</p><p>“Fighting is going to be our last resort,” Adora reminded her, tension in her voice. “We aren’t going to attack unless we have to.”</p><p>Glimmer rolled her eyes. “Ugh, fine. When are we even going to get there?”</p><p>Adora gestured to her trackerpad. “Another ten minutes and we’ll break the treeline. Remember, throw up the white flag first, ok?”</p><p>“Yeah, yeah, got it,” Glimmer said, turning to Bow. “Oh yeah Adora, Bow developed some new trick arrows, these ones explode with ice or short-circuit all electronic compenents in a bot and there’s on that.... uh.... Bow what was the other one again?”</p><p>“Boomerang arrow,” Bow replied, joining them. He offered Adora a smile. “You ready for the invasion?”</p><p>“Negotiation,” corrected Adora. “We aren’t fighting unless we have to.” She absentmindedly gripped her arm, relishing the pressure against her skin. “I’ll get a deal out of them,” she said softly, watching the red X track closer and closer.</p><p>“You’ll do fine,” piped up Bow, resting his hand on her shoulder. “I'm sure the Horde will agree to some sort of deal, and even if that falls through, we have the best army on Etheria.” Despite his well-intentioned words, Adora only frowned more.</p><p>“I’m sure Catra will try and twist my words, or try to deceive or manipulate me,” she said. “I can’t let that happen.” It had happened before, and well, it would probably happen now.</p><p>“Hey, if your not comfortable you don’t have to put yourself in the open like that. We could just go straight to fighting,” Glimmer suggested.</p><p>“No! Don’t you understand that?” Adora said, whipping around. “I don’t want to lose you or anyone else. The best that can happen is that I can solve the problem through a deal.” Her voice cracked slightly under the stress. “Anyways, it’s too late to change the plan now,” she sighed, watching as the dot finally met up with the X. She stopped, and behind her, all of Brightmoon’s troops echoed her movements, stomping their foot on the ground in a final tone. “Glimmer, you have the flag?”</p><p>“On it.” Glimmer pulled a white flag embroidered with the Sword of Protection from her pocket. “Be back in a little bit,” she said over her shoulder, teleporting away. The forest fell quiet, all the soldiers and vehicles quietly waiting for a command. It was peaceful- too peaceful. Nervously Adora drew her sword, gripping it tightly in both hands. She’d heard of the term “the calm before the storm” before and well, here was her first experience with it. She took a deep breath in, exhaling slowly. <em>Relax</em>, she chided herself. <em>Someone’s going to come back and you’ll negotiate. End of story.</em></p><p>Glimmer appeared, startling Adora and causing her to yelp. “Someone’s on their way to pick you up and you’ll talk,” she rattled off, looking at her nails. “Anyways, have fun <em>negotiating. </em>We’re all here if you need backup.” Adora gave a sigh of relief, a huge amount of stress off her shoulders. They weren’t going to fight.</p><p>She could end this peacefully.</p><p> </p><hr/><p class="align-center">
  <strong>Catra</strong>
</p><p>Catra stood in her room, examining a map with a critical eye. The Horde’s symbol dominated the map, surrounding the dwindling Brightmoon territories, swallowing up more land by the day. But not fast enough. As fast as they were going, they couldn’t conquer all of Etheria before Horde Prime’s arrival. Behind her stood Hordak, impatiently tapping his foot.</p><p>
  <em>tap, tap, tap, tap. </em>
</p><p>“You mind?” she hissed, shooting him a venomous look. Hordak gave her an equally intense stare but ceased.</p><p>“Just figure out a way to take Brightmoon,” he growled, walking out of the room. Catra resumed pouring over the map, her fingers tracing the mountains and forests of Etheria.</p><p>“Brightmoon,” she purred, piercing the paper with her claws. “I’ll get you one day.” With an unsatisfied sigh, she threw back her hair and stretched, extending her arms and yawning. For the past few months, she’d been punishing her body, staying up late every night devising new schemes and plans to finally take Etheria. As a result, she felt and looked like hell. Her eyes had dark circles around them, hair and clothes were rumpled. Whenever she slept it didn't feel like enough, but it wasn’t her choice how much sleep she got. There was a war going on, and when wars were being fought, sleep was a little known commodity.</p><p>Scorpia had been noticing sleep deprivation slowly claim her day by day. This only annoyed Catra further, combining with her crankiness to create a brooding, angry cat that was ready to snap at any moment. She’d snapped when Scorpia had served her some tea- to tell the truth, it was some pretty good tea, Catra couldn’t lie. But the simple act of Scorpia taking care of her, the notion that she needed a caretaker, sent her over the edge.</p><hr/><p>“What are you pulling?!” Catra had screamed, hurling the tea against the wall and grabbing Scorpia. At the last second she’d averted her hands, instead balling them up into tight fists at her sides. “You think I need to be fed and cared for every second of the day?” She hissed, breathing heavily.</p><p>Scorpia had looked justifiably shocked. “Woah Catra,” she said, raising her pincers. “I just want to make sure you’re ok, you’ve been pretty weird lately and I’m sure it’s bec-”</p><p>“There you go again!” Catra yelled, throwing her hands in the air. “Always telling me what’s wrong with myself, always telling me how I should fix it. I don’t need your fucking tea or hippie advice, you got that!?” She jabbed a finger into Scorpia’s chest, drawing out her claws and piercing Scorpia’s skin. She stumbled back, clearly at a loss of words with Catra’s rage. “Stop looking at me like you’re my mother or you’re my friend because you're none of those. I don’t need any of those,” Catra said, her voice cracking at the lie. She ignored it, withdrawing her hand and taking a calming breath. Still, more anger bubbled to the surface. Catra turned to the map on the wall to hide it. “Get the fuck out of my room.”</p><p>“Catra...”</p><p>“GET THE FUCK OUT!”</p><hr/><p>Those were the words she almost repeated to the recruit who’d just walked in after Hordak left with the words, “Brightmoon soldiers advancing upon our position.”</p><p>Suddenly, Catra was wide awake, mind racing. “Say that again?" She asked the recruit with a flick of her ears.</p><p>“Guards reported rebellion activity in the Whispering Woods. Drone feeds show their entire army marching towards the Fright Zone, we estimate at least tw-” Catra was out the door before the recruit could finish his sentence, her feet slamming against the metal floor as she ran to Hordak’s office. If the rebellion was truly here in full force, Catra needed to pull together every available resource immediately to force them back into the sparkly dollhouse they’d come from. And if the rebellion was here, She-Ra was there leading them. Her jaw stiffened at the thought of coming face to face with Adora again, fingers itching at the feeling of tearing through her skin.</p><p>“Hordak!” He poked his head out of his office with a frown fixed onto his face.</p><p>“Force Captain.”</p><p>“We got all of the rebellion coming, we need to get all our troops into the primary defensive line,” Catra said, jerking her finger over her shoulder. “Send out the announcement will you?” Hordak nodded and disappeared back into his room. “The fuck are you still doing here?” She spat at the recruit who’d followed her down the hall.</p><p>“Uh, the Queen of Brightmoon also appeared under a white flag asking for negotiations. Specifically, she asked for you.”</p><p>“Sparkles,” Catra muttered, grinning in anticipation in anticipation. “I’ll get to it. Now get lost." The recruit scrambled in the opposite direction, clearly glad to be given an excuse to get away from the Force Captain. Fine with her. She’d oversee the fighting later but now was dedicated to pissing off Adora to the extend she’d be willing to risk a few soldiers to take her. Her hand drifted to her coiled whip at her side, itching to pull it out and give it a flick. That’d have to happen later. She headed back into her room, grabbing a traveling cloak and a short dagger she’d stolen from a random cadet. It was small enough to hide in her belt, and she covered it with the cloak.</p><p>
  <em>Just in case.</em>
</p><p>The skiff she’d chosen was brand new, straight off the assembly line. As she started it up, it purred under her control, smoothly moving away from the dock. She fixed her sights on the treeline where a tall blonde stood holding up a white cloth on a sword.</p><p>Adora. The corners of her edges curled up into a wicked smile and she gunned the skiff.</p><p> </p><hr/><p class="align-center">
  <strong>Adora</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>A tiny dot grew in the distance, a cloud of dust trailing behind it. Slowly, Adora saw the wild hair of Catra whipping about her face as she approached. She shifted the sword from one hand to the other, uncomfortable with being in such an exposed position. She longed for the comfort of her friends.</p><p>Catra pulled up beside her, hopping off without turning off the skiff and casually strolling over to Adora. “I’m busy. What do you want?” She asked, frowning as she swept her cloak around her.</p><p>“All of Brightmoon is standing in the Whispering Woods waiting for my signal to attack,” Adora said. “I don’t want to fight you or let anyone on either side get hurt. We can solve this-”</p><p>“Through the power of friendship!” Catra interjected, raising her arm in a heroic pose. Cackling, she laughed at her own joke. “Seriously Adora, friendship doesn’t fix everything.” She leaned against the skiff, checking her fingernails. “But continue.”</p><p>“I, uh,” Adora began, at a loss for words. “I just want to fix this without fighting. Brightmoon doesn't want to fight unless they have to, and I'm sure the Fright Zone would be looking forward to a compromise.”</p><p>“Two problems with that,” Catra said, raising her index and middle finger. “You don’t even fight, we just come in and you flee like cowards. Two, we ain’t looking for a deal.” She looked at Adora, clearly bored. “Are we done? Can we go fight now?”</p><p>“No Catra!” Adora said, restraining herself from pulling out her hair or strangling Catra. Or both. “Horde Prime <em>will </em>take over all of Etheria and he’ll cast aside everyone else, including you.”</p><p>“Sure he will,” Catra said. “I’ll take care of it though.”</p><p>“How?” Adora demanded, feeling the frustration bubble the surface. “How are you supposed to single-handedly stop Horde Prime’s massive army from walking over us like a bug? What magical solution are you going to pull when he arrives?”</p><p>“You'll find out,” Catra said, smirking. “Tell you what, if we can make a deal I’ll consider telling you.” She pushed off the skiff, counting points off her fingers. “Back off of the Fright Zone today, give us back Plumeria and Sloaksfield, we’ll return your top five generals without a scratch.”</p><p>“I... I can't do that,” Adora said, clearly struggling under the pressure of saving five of her own. “We can't give you more land than you already have. If you give us back everything you’ve ever taken, we’ll back off and consider you <em>friends</em>.”</p><p>The word struck a chord in Catra, whose eyes widened slightly. She recovered quickly, swishing her tail and crossing her arms across her chest, eyes nervously flicking around. “Why would I want to be friends with you?” She shot back, clearly faking a look of disinterest.</p><p>Adora was taken aback by her obvious slip. “No, I was talking about Brightmoon and the Horde...” she began to say, but froze as she registered Catra's words. “Catra?”</p><p>The cat turned away, furious at her own slip. “Nothing," she said, clutching her arm. Before she could take a step away, Adora reached out and stopped her. She shot Adora a look of pure venom, but Adora held on tight.</p><p>“Catra. Please,” she said softly. “We used to be friends.”</p><p>“I used to be your sidekick,” she spat, yanking her arm away.</p><p>Adora sighed and dropped her sword onto the ground. “You used to be the most important thing in the world to me,” she whispered, praying with every fiber that Catra would turn around. With her back facing Adora, Catra stiffened.</p><p>“Yeah, well I guess times change,” she said quietly, her voice unusually thick. She turned back slightly to Adora. “Look at what I’ve done without you. I’ve gained more than the Horde has ever done, and I’m on the edge of winning this war.”</p><p>“I never meant for you to be second best,” Adora responded. “I was just trying to protect you.” She pointed towards the Fright Zone. “Please Catra, just be reasonable. “</p><p>“I am," she snapped. “It’s just that- I've proven myself without you now.” She chuckled. “Hell, I was even better than you in some cases. But now I just miss having a friend. I'm the most powerful person on Etheria, yet I still want to go back to when we were both senior cadets in the Horde.” She threw her arms out, trying to find the words. “I hated being in your shadow, but now I’m free of it and I miss your presence. I miss having <em>you</em>. But I can’t have you. You're playing dollhouse with the sparkly good guys, and your stubborn ass won’t move an inch.”</p><p>“I’m doing what’s right,” Adora shot back, her face heating up. “You can still do the right thing. I promise I won't shadow you as I did before again. You can come to Brightmoon under your own will.”</p><p>Catra laughed, shaking her head. “You think they’ll take me in after what I’ve done? You think the Horde’s not going to try to rope me back in as they tried with you?” Her voice was struggling, trying to stay afloat in a sea of emotion. “I... I think I’ve got a plan.”</p><p>Adora's heart soared. “Can you tell me?”</p><p>“<em>tsk tsk tsk.</em> Remember, deal first," Catra said.</p><p>Before she could continue speaking, Adora interrupted. “You give back everything and we'll have an alliance. Deal or no deal?”</p><p>“Hell n-”</p><p>“I wasn’t asking for your opinion. Yes or no, deal or no deal?” she said, her voice hardening. Catra turned away again, weighing her options. “Please,” Adora said, gently holding Catra’s hand. “Do it for us.”</p><p>“There is no us," Catra snarled, whirling around. “Why can’t you understand that?” Adora took a step back, her heart plummeting faster than it had risen. “But,” Catra continued, “I wouldn't mind for there to be an ‘us’ again.” She held out her hand. “Deal.”</p><p> </p><hr/><p class="align-center">
  <strong>Catra</strong>
</p><p>She couldn't quite believe herself, watching Adora’s face break into relief as she shook her hand. On the other hand, she stood a little taller, felt a small smile spread across her face. She had missed Adora, after all. While she longed for Adora to go away so she could <em>do </em>something, she wanted the companionship that came with it. She'd <em>done</em> something, stepped out of Adora's shadow and finally proven herself to everyone. Now, she just wanted someone to be with.</p><p>“Thanks, Catra," Adora said, gratitude in her voice. Her tense face had given way to a smile, so true that Catra couldn’t resist smiling back.</p><p>“It was either this or go crazy,” she replied, shrugging her shoulders. “I guess I'll tell you about my plan then.” She took a deep breath. “This is gonna sound crazy even after everything that’s happened. And I'm not sure if you’re ready to trust me or not, so I'll just let you decide.” She sat down on the skiff. rubbing her temples. “It's a wild ride.”</p><p>“I’m listening," Adora said as she took a seat next to Catra. She leaned forward, eyes fixed on Catra.</p><p>“I found a First One's message hiding out in the South Pole,” Catra started, closing her eyes and reliving the moment in her head.</p><hr/><p>They’d journeyed there after two weeks, lugging behind them provisions and building materials. Their mission was to find a piece of First One’s tech they’d located a few thousand feet beneath the ground, and they came prepared. They set up long-term buildings, bathrooms, and a hundred-foot wide drill to grind its way into Etheria’s crust. They weren’t leaving until they had the tech.</p><p>Honestly, it was more boring than Catra had expected. Most of the time they just sat inside, waiting as the drill slowly penetrated the dirt and rock. Occasionally the drill would get jammed with all the rubble and they’d have to venture outside bundled in jackets and gloves to pump the debris. Otherwise, it was the most monotonous adventure she’d ever gone on.</p><p>Until they found the message. They were drowsily playing cards on the floor when the constant grinding noise of the drill stopped, followed by the green light flashing against the snow outside. Abandoning her cards, Catra dashed out the door, heart pounding.</p><p>“Pull it up!” She yelled to Scorpia. The drill began to reverse, a higher-pitched whining coming on as it spun faster and faster, coming to the surface at a high speed. Soon, the whining stopped as well; the tip of the drill emerged, the claws installed holding her precious First One's tech. She remembered pulling it out of the claw’s grasp, feeling the cold surface of the shard. That night she'd stayed up late trying to decode the message with Hordak’s notes. It was tedious and slow, a message appearing until she realized she’d messed up a number in her calculations or copied down the wrong thing. Then she’d have to start over again. Eventually, though, she ended up with this message.</p><p> </p><p class="align-center">
  <em>I lunch Etheria.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>She’d obviously screwed up the message. Deciding instead to decode it back in the Fright Zone, they’d abandoned everything except the shard and headed back. There, in the comfort of her room, Catra slowly pieced together an astonishing story.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Etheria is a class 4 planet, facilitating the need of a guardian. Given it’s core and portal capabilities, it must remain safe under any circumstances. In the case of a disruption, the connections between the runestones will be altered. A designated guardian (DG) will be placed on Etheria following the establishment of the Heart of Etheria. The DG will not have a physical runestone; rather, a spiritual connection to their own runestone. This ensures that the DG will be able to access their powers at any given moment regardless of Etheria’s status. However, this also means we cannot implement our PWP protocol, AKA Lighthope. DG will have free reign. This carries enormous risk, but with proper emphasis on the selection of the DG the risk can be mitigated. DG’s are as follows...</em>
</p><p> </p><p>After that, a long list of names scrawled across the back of the runestone. Catra was astonished- this meant that the First Ones had determined DG’s from the future- people that weren’t even born yet. And even more astonishing, Catra's name was on the runestone, imprinted there by people existing a thousand years go. Somehow, someway, they’d chosen her to be the true protector of Etheria.</p><hr/><p>“-wait, so <em>you’re</em> the designated guardian of Etheria? With a <em>spiritual connection</em> to your own nonexistent runestone?” Adora asked, her jaw hanging open.</p><p>“I don’t know," Catra admitted, running a hand through her hair. “If this is true, then I'm not sure what the functions of the current princesses are. It’s... confusing. I'm still piecing together everything.”</p><p>“So can you stop Horde Prime?” Adora said, hope flickering across her face.</p><p>“I... think,” Catra said. “The rest of the runestone basically says I can do whatever I want with Etheria. I have unlimited powers. I'm kind of like the backup in case everything else fails. I can control every liquid, gas, and solid known. If I have to, I can physically move Etheria. My ‘plan’ is just to use those powers to stop Horde Prime from even touching down. If he attacks, I'll just yank us over to the next dimension.”</p><p>Adora smiled. “Well, I guess I'm in your shadow now," she said.</p><p>“...yeah," Catra said slowly. “I guess so.”</p><p>She-Ra stood. “I have to get back to the rest of my troops. I’ll tell them to fall back.” She paused. “How are you going to explain this to Hordak?”</p><p>“I won't," Catra replied smoothly, stretching. “It's time for someone else to take over this dump, don’t you think?” Catra saw Adora stop herself from saying something, from stopping her. “Don't worry Adora, I’ll be fine,” she said.</p><p>“I know," Adora replied, grinning. “I just have a thing where I can't put my <em>friends</em> in risky situations. You’ll be ok though. You’re one tough kitty.”</p><p>“Meet me here tonight?” Catra asked, gathering her cloak up and stepping onto the skiff.</p><p>“It’s on,” Adora replied. “I’ll see you around, Catra.” With that, she picked up her sword off the ground and headed into the forest, her white uniform quickly being swallowed by the trees and bushes. Catra turned around, a thoughtful look on her face. With a second glance back to Adora, she eased the skiff forward and headed home.</p><hr/><p>Creeping stealthily through the halls, Catra dodged the squad of soldiers dashing desperately to their positions. Her bare feet padded quietly against the metal floor as she approached Hordak’s room. She took a deep breath in, exhaling slowly.</p><p>“Hordak!" She called, not bothering to knock as she strode into his room. “I got some news from the negotiation.”</p><p>Hordak rose from his desk, menacingly towering over her. “What did you find out?” he asked, running his hand across his project, an upgraded hand cannon.</p><p>“I made a deal. I give them information in exchange for their friendship.”</p><p>Hordak choked a little bit. “You... WHAT?!” he roared, whirling around to face her.</p><p>“Did I fucking stutter?” Catra leaped towards Hordak, hand extended as she grabbed Hordak's power cell, Entrapta's final gift to him. With a yank, she tore it lose, sparks and wires leaping from the hole in his suit. His suit deactivated, Hordak roared in pain. Catra landed on her feet, casually strolling around him as she flipped his power cell in the air. “Man, I guess Entrapta's design wasn't as good as you thought,” she mused, watching him convulse on the ground. She took a seat in his chair, examining his hand cannon. “And too bad you aren’t good enough to even make small modifications, either.” She grinned as Hordak slowly crawled towards her, rage and pain coursing freely through his face.</p><p>“<em>I... trusted.... YOU</em>,<em>”</em> he growled, spasms rocking his body. <em>“Horde Prime... will... punish you... beyond belief.”</em> His arms collapsed beneath him, his body hitting the floor in one final <em>thump</em>. Catra sat in the silence for a few seconds, expecting for Hordak to get up and blast her into atoms with laser eyes. Nothing happened. His ragdoll form lay on the ground, unmoving.</p><p>“Hm. Too bad you need your big brother to do everything for you.”</p><p> </p><hr/><p class="align-center">
  <strong>Adora</strong>
</p><p class="align-center"> </p><p>It was nightfall by the time she’d reached their previous meeting point. As she approached, she began to have misgivings. Shadows began to move in the corners of her eyes, the wind rustling through the wind deceiving her ears as unseen entities moving amongst the trees. Losing her nerve slightly, she pulled out her sword and held it out in front of her like a shield, praying that nothing was there. She'd snuck away from Brightmoon again tonight. If something happened, she’d be in big trouble with Glimmer.</p><p>“We'll fall back and the Horde will return our territories,” she'd told Glimmer.</p><p>Not the best lie, but it'd have to do. She broke through the treeline swatting the spiderwebs entangled in her face, wildly waving her hands in front of her as she blindly tried to spit cobwebs out of her mouth. Falling to her knees, she clawed at her face until she couldn't feel the soft caress of spiderweb anymore.</p><p>“Wow, ok Adora,” a smug voice commented.</p><p>“Catra.” Adora spat, wiping her mouth. “Good to see you too. How’d it go with Hordak?”</p><p>Catra shrugged, sitting casually against a skiff, one leg up. “Big powercell in his suit. You just gotta yank it hard enough.”</p><p>“How’s everyone else there taking the new leader?” Adora asked. “I remember you weren't best buddies with them or anything.”</p><p>“I promised them some better stuff,” Catra said, waving her hand. “People love free time.”</p><p>Adora took a seat on the skiff next to Catra. “So,” she asked. “What's your big plan with Horde Prime?”</p><p>Catra dismissed her question. “Just gotta move the planet in a circle around him until he gets super dizzy. My only problem now is finding that ‘spiritual connection’ with this runestone or something.”</p><p>“You got any idea how you're gonna do that?” Adora asked, lifting up her sword and gazing at the runestone. “I think for us princesses, touching the runestone can help forge the connection.”</p><p>“Great idea. I'll touch the nonexistent runestone,” said Catra sarcastically. She raised a finger and poked Adora in the head. “I feel the power running through my body!” she exclaimed, clutching her chest. “It's too much!” The pair fell over laughing, clutching their sides and wheezing for breath.</p><p>“Congrats... you’ve achieved your full potential,” Adora said, chuckling.</p><p>Catra’s smile faded. “Yeah. I honestly have no idea how to do that. The runestone doesn't offer any tips and I have no idea where to start.”</p><p>“We have time to figure it out,” Adora replied, hugging her knees. “I kind of wanted to ask, how’ve you been? You know, since I left?”</p><p>A grin appeared on Catra’s face. “It was wild. I never knew I could be so ruthless or powerful. Honestly, it was a little scary but I loved that. No one was my boss and I had Hordak’s approval. I didn't care what happened with anything, only that it stayed that way. I got a little carried away... y’know, with the portal and all.”</p><p>“A little?” Adora exclaimed. “You almost destroyed our entire reality!”</p><p>“Ok, I was very carried away,” Catra admitted. “It wasn't good. After that, I lost some of Hordak's approval. I started wanting you back. I started dreaming of you coming back to the Horde and climbing into our bed the same way we’d done it thousands of times in the past. I knew it would never happen because well, you were you, but it still eased my mind to dream of it.” She dropped one leg over the side of the skiff, staring at the night sky. “Sometimes I’d look at the stares and pretend you were staring at the same ones as me. I just spiraled from there until today, when I saw you and my heart almost burst out of my chest. I swear I was about to pass out.”</p><p>“I couldn't tell,” said Adora, smiling. “You have a pretty good poker face there.”</p><p>“Yeah." Catra stared up some more at the stars before turning to face Adora. “How's it been for you?”</p><p>Adora shrugged. “I had a little trouble getting the trust of Brightmoon, but after that everyone was ok with me. I had Bow and Glimmer, but they never really replaced you. You went <em>wild</em> sometimes, they never did. It was fun to occasionally break the rules with you just because we could. It was just these little things, like sleeping alone for the first time. I'd be reminded of you every single time. I never became insensitive to it, though. It was always in the back of my mind, even when we were fighting.”</p><p>“Even when I tore up your back?” Catra asked, shining her claws in the moonlight.</p><p>“Especially when you tore up my back,” Adora responded. “I couldn't stop thinking about how we went from best friends to enemies willing to physically hurt each other. I wasn't really comfortable with the idea that friends could become things even worse than strangers, it just bothered me a lot.”</p><p>“Me too,” Catra said. “Someday I hoped we could get back together, and that this would only be a fight that made this... <em>us</em>... stronger. I just wasn’t willing to admit my mistake and take responsibility for it though. I was stupid.”</p><p>“You were just confused. It's ok Catra, we fixed it,” Adora said. She reached out and put an arm around Catra’s shoulders. “We’re here now.”</p><p>Catra let her head sink onto Adora’s shoulders. “Fuck, I missed this,” she muttered, purring. Adora felt a sensation of completeness, of warmth, flowing through her body. She leaned her head on Catra's.</p><p>“Me too,” she whispered. “I’m happy you're back.”</p><p>Catra lightly punched Adora. “Shut up," she said, her cheeks flaming. “Stop sounding so sentimental.”</p><p>Adora only tightened her embrace. “It’s true and you know it.”</p><p>Catra sighed. “Yes, I know.”</p><p> </p><hr/><p class="align-center">
  <strong>Catra</strong>
</p><p class="align-center"> </p><p>Adora's embrace made Cara's heart implode. Where she felt emptiness and loneliness, she felt peace. She let out a breath, snuggling up against Adora's body. The two sat there, watching the night skies pass overhead.</p><p>“What a view,” Adora murmured.</p><p>“Yeah,” Catra said. “I wish we could have done this every day.”</p><p>“We can do it every day now if you want," Adora said, giving a contented sigh. “God, I've missed this.”</p><p>“How soon do you think we can get back to our old sleeping arrangement?” Catra asked.</p><p>Adora shrugged. “Dunno. That doesn’t matter though. I got you right here with me right now, that's all.”</p><p>Catra closed her eyes, letting the afterimage of the bright stars drift across her vision. The pinpoints of light sped across, picking up speed. Soon, all she could see was the blurred lines as the stars seemed to shoot across the sky at impossible speeds.</p><p>“Catra?!” came Adora's cry, seemingly below her. Catra wanted to open her eyes, to comfort Adora, but the stars commanded her attention. Feeling shot through her body, traveling through her very veins to the tips of her fingers and toes. She felt... <em>powerful</em>. Somewhere in her mind, a piece of something clunked into place. The feeling increased tenfold, almost too much for Catra to bear. Her back arched, straining against the surge of energy.</p><p>“Catra!” Adora's panicked yell caught Catra's attention. She turned around, expecting to see her friend, but she only saw the very tops of trees. Below her, Adora stood, sword drawn, staring with an open mouth at her. Catra descended, throwing light onto every tree and bush in sight, illuminating the entire area. “Catra," Adora breathed, never taking her eyes off her.</p><p>“Adora," Catra responded. Her voice sounded deeper, more powerful, as if a thousand iterations of herself spoke at the same time. Suddenly, the energy surge disappeared, and Catra stumbled. Adora rushed forward, catching her before she fell flat onto her face.</p><p>“Catra.... I think you did it. I think you connected with your runestone!" she exclaimed, cradling Catra in her lap.</p><p>“This is... the one thing I will admit friendship solves," Catra muttered, unable to move after what she'd felt. “Also, I think we figured out my problem.”</p><p>Adora laughed. “Yes. And I will make you realize we can defeat Horde Prime with friendship, too, when the time comes.”</p><p>“Bullshit. That's not gonna happen.”</p><p>“Is too.”</p><p>“Is not!”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This was probably my longest work yet- 5.7k. If you read the whole thing, I admire your perseverance, there's not that many people willing to read this shitty of a work.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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